Halfway There

I'm back from a trip that got me halfway to two of my goals:  getting to every Major League Baseball stadium and getting to all 50 states.  I've been to 17 stadiums now (18 if you want to count Sun Life Stadium, but it was for a football game and the Marlins don't play there anymore), but only 15 of the 30 current stadiums.  I'll get to posts that cover my trips to Dodger Stadium and Miller Park.  My last posts ranked the stadiums that I've been to.  Here's a quick list ranking the stadiums that I haven't been to in order of how much I want to visit each one:

1.  Busch Stadium.  There are a lot of cities in the country that are football towns (Washington and Chicago come to mind right away).  Los Angeles is a basketball town.  New York, Boston, and St. Louis are baseball towns.  Everybody always says that St. Louis has great baseball fans.  I would love to get to a Cardinals game and see what that's like.

2.  Kauffman Stadium.  I've always liked Kauffman Stadium with the waterfalls in the outfield.  It was recently renovated.  And it could be combined with a trip to St. Louis (it's a four-hour drive across Missouri).  I really hope to get to these two this year.

3.  Rangers Ballpark.  I've never been to Texas.  Maybe I could visit Wilhelm also.  And the AL West is the only division where I haven't been to at least one stadium.

4.  Turner Field.  I could visit Dennis and if I got to Turner Field, I would finish off my first division.

5.  Angel Stadium.  I would have gone there on this trip, but the Angels were opening in Cincinnati (interleague play on Opening Day, I'll get to that one eventually).  I would definitely combine that with a trip to Disneyland and another trip to Dodger Stadium.

6.  Target Field.  It would have to be during the summer.  It's the newest stadium other than Marlins Park and I could cross Minnesota off my list of states to visit.

7.  Safeco Field.  I've never been to any west coast state other than California.  Seattle seems like an interesting city.

8.  AT&T Park.  Much like Eric Cartman, I swore I'd never set foot in San Francisco.  Saint Francis was a great saint.  It's a shame that the city named after him is full of dirty smelly hippies.  But I would finish off the NL West by getting there and I could root against the Giants.

9.  Minute Maid Park.  Houston is the biggest city in the US I haven't been to.  And if I went this year or next year, I could probably get some pretty cheap tickets with how bad the Astros are going to be.

10.  Progressive Field.  Cleveland is the closest US city with a baseball team that I haven't been to yet.

11.  Great American Ballpark.  This strikes me as a stadium that isn't that exciting.  But I might be able to combine Cincinnati and Cleveland in one trip.

12.  Comerica Park.  I have no desire to ever be in Detroit except to see a game in Comerica Park.

13.  SkyDome.  I know it's now the Rogers Centre, but it will always be the SkyDome to me.  Toronto is the closest city with a Major League Baseball team that I haven't been to, but in the words of Homer Simpson, "Why should we leave America to visit America Junior?"

14.  O.co Coliseum.  It's where the A's play in case you had no idea what O.co Coliseum is.  I'd be okay if I never got to SkyDome, but this is the first stadium I have absolutely no desire to see in person.  I'd go if I was in the area and the A's had a game just to cross it off the list, but I won't make a point of going there.  It's a football stadium.

15.  Tropicana Field.  The Rays have become a good franchise, but they have a terrible stadium.

Major League Baseball wants new stadiums for the A's and Rays.  They both need them.  If they ever get built, I'll try to get to them.